The long-awaitedWarhammer 40K: Space Marine 2will go all-in on the galactic scale of its Tyranid invasion, according to one of the developers from Saber Interactive. Featuring the legendary Ultramarines and their plight against the mounting Xeno threat, and specifically focusing on the protagonist of the originalSpace Marine, the new game promises a new kind ofWH40Kexperience.
Broadly speaking, manyWarhammer 40Kgames don’t successfully manage to convey the sheer scope and might of most of their featured factions, butSpace Marine 2aims to leverage a unique advantage that other development studios didn’t have access to. In a recent interview, Saber Interactive’s creative director Oliver Hollis-Leick went into some detail on what could set this new project apart.
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AsSpace Marine 2’s recent gameplay trailershave shown, the game’s battle sequences feature hundreds upon hundreds of active combatants running around all at once. According to Hollis-Leick’s new PC Gamer interview, the game is supposed to be “bigger than its genre brethren, and bigger than its predecessor.” The reason this is possible, specifically, lies in one of Saber Interactive’s previous productions:World War Z. “We have our own proprietary engine at Saber which allowed us to do things in World War Z that you couldn’t get from any other engine,” explained Hollis-Leick. The software makes it possible for a game to simultaneously show hundreds of interactive enemies without an apparent reduction in visual fidelity, a crucial aspect of whySpace Marine 2looks as epic and grand as it does.
The value of Saber Interactive’s proprietary game engine has already been proven, it’s worth pointing out.World War Z’s recent Horde Mode XLunderscores its staggeringly large hordes of infected humans, who often pile on top of others to reach higher ground. WhileWorld War Ztechnically is just another squad-based zombie shooter, the fact that it tosses hundreds of zombies at the players all at once helped elevate it over the rest of its competitors, and something similar may yet happen withSpace Marine 2, as well.
From the shown gameplay footage, the Ultramarines will mainly be duking it out withWarhammer 40K’s terrifying Tyranid XenosinSpace Marine 2. This means that Saber Interactive’sWorld War Zengine will be perfect when it comes to showing off just how dangerous the full brunt of a Tyranid invasion force can get. Comments made by Hollis-Leick imply that the studio is doubling down on what madeWWZinteresting, and the engine’s ability to render hordes of enemies at once could come to a head inSpace Marine 2.
Space Marine 2is coming to current consolesand to PC, though the game doesn’t yet have an official release window. Saber Interactive may provide further insight into the game over the course of the next couple of months, and a better overview of its engine and other technical aspects should be coming in due time, too.
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2is currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
